23416: (Chamberlain) Ex-soldiers vow to bring order to Haiti capital (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Ex-soldiers who helped
topple former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Wednesday vowed to end
escalating street warfare in the Haitian capital while supporters of the
exiled leader said they would step up a campaign for the release of jailed
allies.
     As tensions continued to climb in the chronically unstable Caribbean
country after two weeks of violence, the U.S. ambassador asked the State
Department to allow nonessential embassy staff and dependents to leave for
their safety.
     "We are ready to attack the Lavalas 'chimeres'," said former army
sergeant Joseph Jean-Baptiste, referring to Aristide's Lavalas Family party
and affiliated "chimere" street gangs that critics say he used to suppress
dissent.
     Jean-Baptiste said groups of former soldiers had been deployed in
Port-au-Prince "to restore order" and witnesses said they saw several
patrolling the wealthy mountaintop suburb of Petionville in camouflage
uniforms.
     Groups loyal to Aristide said on Wednesday they would launch a new
wave of unrest on Friday if the authorities did not release Lavalas
supporters, including former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, jailed on vague
charges of promoting violence.
     "They violate our democratic rights. It's like we were not human, like
we did not exist," a spokesman for a self-styled popular resistance
organization told Radio Solidarity, on condition he not be identified.
     The U.S. ambassador submitted a request for an "authorized departure,"
which allows nonessential personnel and relatives of staff members to leave
the country if they wish.
     "It's being considered at the State Department," a U.S. official, who
asked not to be named, said.
     Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has faced simmering
tensions since Aristide was driven out on Feb. 29 by an armed revolt and
U.S. and French pressure to quit.
     Pro-Aristide gangs retain control of many of Port-au-Prince's
sprawling slums and the former soldiers who opposed him remain in charge of
several towns, demanding the re-establishment of the army and years of back
pay.
     The interim government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue does not have
the resources or police to impose order, and the Brazilian-led force of
around 3,000 soldiers is at less than half the strength authorized by the
U.N. Security Council.
     Furthermore, floods that killed more than 3,000 people last month
after Tropical Storm Jeanne swung north of the deforested country have
strained the peacekeepers' resources as they try to protect aid convoys
from looters and patrol the capital.
     The current bout of violence erupted on Sept. 30 when gunmen attacked
a pro-Aristide rally. Protesters blamed police and decapitated or shot up
to five officers in retaliation.
     At least 50 people have been killed since, many of them in gang
warfare in the slums, and police and Brazilian troops have arrested dozens
in sweeps through Aristide strongholds. Burning barricades block some roads
and many businesses are shuttered.
     Lavalas members say the interim authorities have targeted them for
supporting Aristide, who is now in South Africa. But the government and
Washington blame the violence on Lavalas.
     In a move likely to further stoke resentment, police confirmed on
Wednesday they had detained another high-profile Aristide supporter,
Port-au-Prince parish priest Father Gerard Jean-Juste. It was not clear
what he was charged with.